Monday, October 02, 2006

BOTTOM LINE

...there were no more attacks in the United States, and only two in Europe. In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq, causing many Islamic terrorists to hustle back to the Middle East, to "defend the homeland." There they died in the thousands. But worse than that, the terrorist tactics they continued to use was now killing thousands of Moslem men, women and children. The negative publicity caused Islamic terrorism to sink in the opinion polls. This was very bad news. The terrorists depend on public approval, in the Islamic world, for new recruits, protection (from local police) and financial support. The dead Iraqis were killing al Qaeda.

By 2006, Iraqis were turning on al Qaeda, informing on al Qaeda leaders, and any operatives that did not hide carefully from the people they believed they were fighting for. Westerners, unless they observe Arab media closely, and have contacts inside the Arab world, will not have noted this sharp drop in al Qaedas fortunes. It's in the Western media's interest (financial and political) to pump up al Qaedas current standing. But the reality is that al Qaeda is desperate for a big score. The terrorist chatter this year, on several occasions, has indicated that another major attack was imminent. The intelligence agencies did not release any data on what, if any, major attacks were thwarted. But that's normal, because sometimes attacks are called off, not because the intel agencies have intervened, but because the terrorists decided that things were not quite right. In situations like that, the CIA, FBI or whatever, doesn't want to let the bad guys know how close they are.

The chatter is on again. This time there is talk of an al Qaeda video featuring the long unseen Osama bin Laden. The recent reports of his death began as rumors in Arab countries about bin Laden passing away in some inglorious and painful fashion (Typhoid was mentioned.) Actually, many of the "death reports" were actually jokes. Al Qaeda's fortunes have sunk so low in the Moslem world that he is being mocked, via jokes about his demise.

Thank you George W. Bush. Thank you, Dick Cheney. Thank you, Donald Rumsfeld. Thank you, men and women of the U.S. Armed Forces. Thank you for these last 5 years. Keep up the good work; and faster, please. No thanks on my behalf will go out to the left or to the Democratic leadership, who have all done their best to impede, undermine, obstruct, demoralize, and otherwise obscure this remarkable achievement.

Think back for a moment and remember that no one--NO ONE--imagined for even a brief moment after 9/11 that there would not be more attacks on this country that would be even worse than what occurred on that September day in 2001.

No matter what happens in the days and months to come, the policies of the Bush Administration--however imperfect, and including invading Iraq--have resulted in no attacks on U.S. soil since that day.